Humble credits red-light cameras with reducing accidents

Published 3:24 pm, Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The city of Humble is trumpeting the success of its red-light camera program.

Since 2007, Humble has installed cameras at major intersections coming into the city from U.S. 59 as a way of keeping motorists from running red lights and reducing the number of traffic accidents.

"Originally, this dropped accidents drastically, and now it's pretty (consistent)," said Sgt. Ken Theis, one of the administrators of the red-light camera program for the Humble Police Department.

The system, which was leased in 2007 from Scottsdale, Ariz.-based American Traffic Solutions, supplies data to the Humble Police Department in the form of hundreds of electronic files per day that are dumped into a file that is accessed by law enforcement officers who review each red-light incident.

The files include a time-stamped video of incidents, a still photo of the license plates and the citations, which are also sent to the motorists if they ran a red light.

The city installed five of the cameras at key intersections along U.S. 59 in 2007, and added another five cameras in 2009, when it renewed their existing contract.

In 2011, the city received 44,885 requests for citations from ATS, but issued only 32,070, which means nearly 13,000 citations were dismissed by reviewing officers.

Officer Jack Burt, who reviews some of the video footage that is provided on a daily basis, said while some offenses will trigger a citation being issued, others fall into gray areas.

"We try and make it as fair as possible. A lot of (the violations) we dismiss," Burt said.

For instance, on right turns from a red light, many motorists will do a slow roll and yield to traffic, instead of coming to a complete stop.

If it is safe, or no traffic is approaching that could make the turn unsafe, then the citation issued by ATS might be dismissed.

"My opinion is that if I would not stop that vehicle and write them a ticket, I won't make them pay a red-light ticket," Burt said.

While Humble is crediting the cameras with saving property, and possibly lives, other area entities have had mixed results with the cameras.

In 2010, voters in the city of Houston demanded the removal of cameras stationed at 50 key intersections throughout the city.

The cameras remained in place, but were turned off, which sparked a lawsuit between the city and ATS.

Houston ended up paying ATS $4.8 million to settle the issue and end the legal battle.

The removal also sparked debate between supporters who cited safety as the underlying issue, and opponents, who claimed the cameras merely provided a steady stream of revenue for city coffers.

In Montgomery County, officials were recently forced to shut down five red-light cameras operating in The Woodlands after records of a required traffic study - that was supposed to be conducted before the cameras were installed - could not be found.

As a result Montgomery County is in the process of refunding $200,000 in fines that were collected between March and July.

While the cameras in Houston may be off and there are fewer on the streets in The Woodlands, the Humble Police Department remains pleased with its camera program.

However, with the program's claims of safety also come the claims of skewed data with regard to traffic accidents at intersections monitored by the cameras.

"The problem we have is that the percentage data might show it's up 100 percent on traffic accidents (at those intersections)," Theis said.

This usually happens when a single accident occurs at an intersection that didn't see an accident the previous year.

When that happens, the statistics tend to be flawed, he said.

"It makes it look drastic, when there was really one wreck," Theis said.

Overall, the rate of serious accidents along U.S. 59 and intersections such as Townsend Road and FM 1960 are down and the number of traffic citations has increased.

Because most who live in and around Humble know where the traffic cameras are, many of those who receive citations have a Houston address.

"A lot of people think that just because they don't have the cameras in Houston anymore, that we aren't using them here," Burt said.

Burt said some drivers come to contest the tickets and often mention how they dislike the idea of the cameras being used in Humble.

The biggest complaint, Burt said, is that the tickets go to whomever the vehicle is registered, not who was actually driving the car.

"You may not be driving it, but you own it and you're responsible for it," he said.